Snohomish County Radio System Encryption Operation
A short clip of the Snohomish County Emergency Radio System operating with encryption active. Normally the system does not encrypt traffic, with a few exceptions (SWAT, Narcotics Task Force...

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Snohomish County Radio System Encryption Operation - Video

The FBI director, James Comey, speaks about the impact of technology on law enforcement in Washington on Thursday. Photograph: Jose Luis Magana/AP

The director of the FBI savaged tech companies for their recent embrace of end-to-end encryption and suggested rewriting laws to ensure law enforcement access to customer data in a speech on Thursday.

James Comey said data encryption such as that employed on Apples latest mobile operating system would deprive police and intelligence companies of potentially life-saving information, even when judges grant security agencies access through a warrant.

Criminals and terrorists would like nothing more than for us to miss out, he said. Technologists have found such statements reminiscent of the Crypto Wars of the 1990s, an earlier period in which the US government warned about encryption constraining law enforcement.

Framing his speech at the Brookings Institution as kickstarting a dialogue and insisting he was not a scaremonger, Comey said encryption threatens to lead us all to a very, very dark place.

Comey also posed as a question whether companies not subject currently to Calea should be required to build lawful intercept capabilities for law enforcement, something he contended would not expand FBI authorities. Calea is a 1994 surveillance law mandating that law enforcement and intelligence agencies have access to telecommunications data, which Comey described as archaic in the face of technological innovation.

Im hoping we can now start a dialogue with Congress on updating it, Comey said.

Privacy advocates contend Comey is demagoguing the issue.

It took a June supreme court ruling, they point out, for law enforcement to abandon its contention that it did not require warrants at all to search through smartphones or tablets, and add that technological vulnerabilities can be exploited by hackers and foreign intelligence agencies as well as the US government. Additionally, the FBI and police retain access to data saved remotely in the so-called cloud where much data syncs for storage from devices like Apples for which companies like Apple keep the encryption keys.

Comey, frequently referring to bad guys using encryption, argued access to the cloud is insufficient.

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FBI director attacks tech companies for embracing new modes of encryption

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Privacy advocates and technology experts called the concerns exaggerated and little more than recycled arguments the government has raised against encryption since the early 1990s.

Likening encrypted data to a safe that cannot be cracked or a closet door that wont open, Comey said the move by tech companies to protect user communications in the name of privacy is certain to impede a wide range of criminal investigations. New legislation to allow law enforcement to intercept communications is needed at a time of advancing technology and new forms of communication, he said.

We have the legal authority to intercept and access communications from information pursuant to court order, but we often lack the technical ability to do so, Comey said in a Brookings Institution speech. Comey cited particular cases in which he said access to cell phone data aided in a criminal investigation. But in a question-and-answer session after the speech, he said he could not cite particular instances in which someone was rescued from danger who wouldnt have been had law enforcement been blocked from that information.

Logic tells me there are going to be cases like that, Comey said.

The speech, which echoes concerns he and others in law enforcement have previously made, comes soon after announcements by Apple and Google that their new operating systems will be encrypted, or protected with coding by default. Law enforcement officials could still intercept conversations but might not be able to access call data, contacts, photos and email stored on the phone.

While the companies actions are understandable, Comey said, the place they are leading us is one we shouldnt go to without careful thought and debate.

Encryption isnt just a technical feature. Its a marketing pitch. But it will have very serious consequences for law enforcement and national security agencies at every level, Comey said.

The governments concerns may also center in part on the use of Apples iMessage platform, which offers end-to-end encrypted text messages that supersede traditional SMS messages. That kind of encryption likely provides access to those messages on users iPhones, of which Apple has sold more than 240 million since 2013.

He acknowledged a rise in public mistrust of government in the year since former National Security Agency systems analyst revealed NSA secret intelligence collection programs. But he said the public was wrong to believe that law enforcement can access any and all communications with the flip of a switch.

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FBI: cellphone encryption would impede criminal investigations

Apple and Google should reconsider their plans to enable encryption by default on their smartphones, and the U.S. Congress should pass a law requiring that all communication tools allow police access to user data, U.S. FBI Director James Comey said.

Comey, repeating his recent concerns about announcements from Apple and Google to offer new encryption tools on their smartphone OSes, went a step further Thursday, when he called on Congress to rewrite the 20-year-old Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act.

Following the past 15 months of leaks about surveillance at the U.S. National Security Agency, the pendulum of public opinion has swung too far away from law enforcements needs, Comey said in a speech at the Brookings Institution.

CALEA requires telecom carriers to give police access to telephone conversations, but Comey called on Congress to expand it to cover the wide range of communication apps and devices not anticipated by lawmakers in 1994.

New encryption tools, combined with a huge number of communication tools not covered by CALEA, means law enforcement agencies are often going dark when attempting to track down criminals and terrorists, Comey said.

Ive never been someone who is a scaremonger, he added. But Im in a dangerous business. So I want to ensure that when we discuss limiting the court-authorized law enforcement tools we use to investigate suspected criminals, that we understand what society gains, and what we all stand to lose.

Comey said his goal with the speech was to open a dialog about law enforcement access to communications, and several audience members pushed back against his call for more surveillance capabilities.

Asked about NSA surveillance, Comey said he understands why companies are marketing encryption tools. The push for privacy comes from justifiable surprise on the part of the U.S. as to the extent and nature of the surveillance being conducted, he said. I can understand people being freaked and surprised, but Ive yet to see the rogue conduct, the lawless conduct, that people talk about.

However, the scope of some of the surveillance was breathtaking to people outside the law enforcement and intelligence communities, he added.

Other audience members questioned the international implications of increased law enforcement access to all communication tools. If U.S. law enforcement agencies demand access, so will other governments, said Greg Nojeim, senior counsel at digital rights group the Center for Democracy and Technology.

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FBI director calls for greater police access to communications

Jose Luis Magana | AP Photo

FBI Director James Comey speaks about the impact of technology on law enforcement, Oct. 16, 2014, at Brookings Institution in Washington.

FBI Director James Comey publicly rebuked two of America's most prominent technology companies in a speech on encryption in Washington on Thursday, arguing that Apple and Google are potentially creating "a black hole for law enforcement."

At issue is the announcement by the two companies that new operating systems will encrypt data by defaultmeaning that Apple and Google could not respond to a legal warrant for access to a suspect's phone because they would not be able to break the encryption.

In remarks that were open to the public at the Brookings Institution, Comey said the heightened encryption is going to cause problems for the FBI as it tracks down criminals and terrorists.

"Both companies are run by good people, responding to what they perceive is a market demand," Comey said. "But the place they are leading us is one we shouldn't go to without careful thought and debate as a country."

Encryption, he said, "threatens to lead us all to a very dark place."

Read MoreGoogle discloses Web encryption vulnerability

Comey acknowledged that the companies are acting in the wake of the Edward Snowden disclosures about U.S. government spying by offering customers phones that will be resistant to the government's efforts to access data.

"Perhaps it's time to suggest that the post-Snowden pendulum has swung too far in one directionin a direction of fear and mistrust," Comey said. "Are we so mistrustful of governmentand of law enforcementthat we are willing to let bad guys walk away?"

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FBI's Comey takes a shot at Apple, Google